BREAKING: GBP surges after strong retail sales data

UK retail sales data for January was released today at 7:00 am GMT. Report was expected to show a solid month-over-month increase in headline and core retail sales, following a drop in December. Report turned out to be a huge positive surprise as it showed not only month-over-month increases but also unexpected year-over-year increases. This was the biggest monthly increase in UK retail sales since April 2021.

Release triggered a spike on GBP market with GBPUSD jumping from around 1.2580 to over 1.2600.

UK, retail sales for January

• Headline (monthly): 3.4% MoM vs 1.5% MoM expected (-3.2% MoM previously)
• Headline (annual): 0.7% YoY vs -1.4% YoY expected (-2.4% YoY previously)
• Core (monthly): 3.2% MoM vs 1.7% MoM expected (-3.3% MoM previously)
• Core (annual): 0.7% YoY vs -1.5% YoY expected (-2.1% YoY previously)

Source: xStation5